Oxford Word of the Year 2008: Hypermiling

November 10th 2008

It is my absolute favorite time of the year on the OUPBlog. Word of the Year time (or WOTY as we call it in the office). Every year the New Oxford American Dictionary prepares for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year. The 2008 Word of the Year is (drum-roll please) hypermiling.

Do you keep the tires on your car properly inflated to maximize your gas mileage? Have you removed the roof rack from your vehicle to streamline the car and reduce drag? Do you turn your engine off rather than idle at long stoplights? If you said yes to any of these questions you just might be a “hypermiler.”

Some history:
“Hypermiling” was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes, who runs this web site. “Hypermiling” or “tohypermile” is to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. Rather than aiming for good mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon.

Many of the methods followed by hypermilers are basic common sense—drive the speed limit, avoid hills and stop-and-go traffic, maintain proper tire pressure, don’t let your car idle, get rid of excess cargo—but others practiced by some devotees may seem slightly eccentric:
• driving without shoes (to increase the foot’s sensitivity on the pedals)
• parking so that you don’t have to back up to exit the space
• “ridge-riding” or driving with your tires lined up with the white line at the edge of the road to avoid driving through water-filled ruts in the road when it’s raining

The hypermiling movement has been criticized for its alleged promotion of driving tactics that are considered dangerous or illegal, such as overinflating tires, rolling through stop signs, and following closely behind large vehicles to cut down on wind resistance. The American Automobile Association (AAA) has issued statements condemning hypermiling as unsafe, while hypermilers have countered that AAA’s characterization of hypermiling is a misrepresentation (see links below for more info).

Hypermiling has also gotten some positive attention in 2008, gaining mainstream traction as gas prices soared and the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, especially those from foreign sources, has become more apparent. A new initiative launched by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers and supported by such notables as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger advocates the practice, referring to it as EcoDriving.

President-elect Barack Obama observed during his campaign that Americans could save as much oil as would be produced by proposed off-shore drilling if only they kept their tire pressures at recommended levels and took their cars in for regular tune-ups. Republicans’ subsequent criticisms of Obama’s statement put these measures advocated by hypermilers in the center of the debate between conservation and drilling as solutions to Americans’ foreign oil dependence problem.

A growing number of Americans favor hypermiling as a sensible set of practices for all drivers who are concerned about their wallets, the environment, and fuel independence, not just for those on the fringe who are obsessed with increasing their MPG numbers.

topless meeting – a meeting in which the participants are barred from using their laptops, Blackberries, cellphones, etc.

toxic debt – mainly sub-prime debts that are now proving so disastrous to banks. They were parceled up and sent around the global financial system like toxic waste, hence the allusion.

Word of the Year Shortlist:

CarrotMob, carrot mob – a flashmob type of gathering, in which people are invited via the Net to all support and reward a local small ethical business such as a shop or café by all patronizing it at the same time. Also as noun, carrotmobbing.

ecohacking (also known as geoengineering) – the use of science in very large-scale projects to change the environment for the better/stop global warming (e.g. by using mirrors in space to deflect sunlight away from Earth).

hockey mom – like a soccer mom, but one who is supportive of her ice-hockey playing kids, as popularized by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin

link bait – content on a website that encourages [baits] a user to place links to it from other websites

luchador – a wrestler, an exponent of lucha libre [Mexican Spanish, lit. = ‘free wrestling’, a form of professional wrestling originating in Mexico and popular in Latin America, with spectacular moves, showy costumes, etc.]

rewilding – the process of returning an area to its original wild state/flora/fauna etc.

staycation – vacation taken at or near one’s home, taking day trips, etc.

tweet – a short message sent via the Twitter service, using a cellphone or other mobile device.

wardrobe – has become a verb, as in: Ms. Mendes has a long-standing relationship with the house of Calvin Klein and has been wardrobed by Calvin Klein Collection.

[…] hyper is replaced by wondermileage or excessivemileage? Thanks for the tip, Rebecca![Source: Oxford University Press Blog]Word of the Year: "Hypermiling" originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 […]

[…] Oxford Word of the Year 2008: HypermilingFile under stuff we love: Oxford Word of the Year. "Hypermiling? or ?to hypermile? is to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one?s car and one?s driving techniques." Read all about at at the OUPBlog. […]

[…] “Hypermiling” or “to hypermile” is to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. Rather than aiming for good mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon.” […]

[…] Hypermiling beat out frugalista (a person who leads a frugal lifestyle, but stays fashionable and healthy), moofer (a mobile out of office worker), topless meeting (a meeting in which participants are barred from using their laptops) and toxic debt (sub-prime debts that are now proving so disastrous to banks) for the honor. The complete list of nominees is available HERE. […]

[…] Well, the New Oxford American Dictionary has decided to make hypermiling all the more official, as it is the 2008 Word of the Year. Says the Oxford University Press blog: “Hypermiling” was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes, who […]

[…] According to the Oxford University Press blog, the term was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes, who runs CleanMPG, a web community for those trying to squeeze the maximum number of miles from every gallon of gas they put in their tanks. Oxford defines “hypermiling” as attempting “to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques.” […]

[…] stop signs, and following closely behind large vehicles to cut down on wind re Clip Source: blog.oup.com Oxford Word of the Year 2008: Hypermiling It is my absolute favorite time of the year on the […]

[…] Oxford Word of the Year: Hypermiling “Do you keep the tires on your car properly inflated to maximize your gas mileage? Have you removed the roof rack from your vehicle to streamline the car and reduce drag? Do you turn your engine off rather than idle at long stoplights? If you said yes to any of these questions you just might be a hypermiler…” […]

[…] Oxford Word of the Year: Hypermiling “Do you keep the tires on your car properly inflated to maximize your gas mileage? Have you removed the roof rack from your vehicle to streamline the car and reduce drag? Do you turn your engine off rather than idle at long stoplights? If you said yes to any of these questions you just might be a hypermiler…” […]

[…] time of the year when the New Oxford American Dictionary prepares for the holidays by releasing its Word of the Year. The 2008 Word of the Year is “hypermiling”, which means attempting to maximize gas […]

[…] “Hypermiling” is the Oxford Word of the Year. Interesting that this eco-concept follows up on last year’s choice by the venerable dictionary — “locavore,” the practice of eating food sourced within 100 or so miles. Green ideas are definitely becoming part of everyday lingo. […]

A new Guinness World Book of Records record was set early this morning when the CleanMPG team of Wayne Gerdes, Justin Fons, and Jennie Chen achieved an average of 68.537 mpg in a new 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid sponsored by American Honda and Scangauge! The record was for the highest mpg on a contiguous drive through 48 states.

[…] word is out, and the word is hypermiling! Oh yeah! Believe it or not hypermilling is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s word of the year. Their definition is …“Hypermiling” or “to hypermile” is to attempt to […]

[…] Dictionary (it’s a special book for words like color and aluminum ) has announced it’s Word of the Year 2008: Hypermiling. “Hypermiling” was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes, who runs this web site. “Hypermiling” or […]

[…] the show noted, hypermiling actually was named Word of the Year by the publishers of the New Oxford American Dictionary. These experts of the English language were fascinated by the amount of attention hypermiling […]

[…] Hypermiling. I’m sorry OUP could you say that again? Hypermiling? Never heard of it! Never seen it! Never heard it spoken. Is this because I live in the Antipodes where we live according to metric measurement? Couldn’t you have thought of something a little more, um, global? Like “credit crunch” (YES I KNOW that’s a phrase) “market meltdown” “subprime” “de-leveraging” or even “microdermalabrasion”?? […]

[…] consumption. Well, I recently learned that the New Oxford Dictionary announced hypermiling as the 2008 word of the year. They discuss the history of the word, some of the methods and positive results of changing bad […]

[…] Well, the New Oxford American Dictionary has decided to make hypermiling all the more official, as it is the 2008 Word of the Year. Says the Oxford University Press blog: “Hypermiling” was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes, who […]

[…] OUP chose “hypermiling” last year. I’ve never heard anyone use this word. Have you? I can get behind 2007’s selection of “locavore” even as it makes me cringe, or carbon neutral and podcast the years before that. […]

[…] has the same longevity as its most recent predecessors. I’ve never heard anyone use 2008’s ‘hypermiling’ (making adjustments to one’s car or one’s driving techniques to maximise fuel-consumption) […]

[…] a real word which is defined as someone who is fashionable and frugal. In fact, according to the Oxford University Press’s Blog, frugalista was one of their 2008 word of the year finalists. It seems that these ideas are not […]

[…] the culture of the current year. From 2004 we’ve had chav, podcast, carbon-neutral, locavore, hypermiling, unfriend, refudiate, squeezed middle, the verb GIF, and selfie. And in the UK, which has somewhat […]